China does not accept the McMahon line agreed on by Britain & Tibet

July 3, 2017;

Times of India,

The Mcmahon line (marked with white stones) was drawn by Sir Henry McMahon, who was acting as the chief negotiator in the Shimla conference between Britain, Tibet and China

With how many countries does China have border disputes?
With 14 nations spread along their borders, China and Russia have more neighbours than any other country. China has border disputes with most of its neighbours. Over the years, it has resolved territorial disputes with Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia and Tajikistan. At present, its biggest border dispute is with India and Bhutan to some extent. Apart from the land and territorial borders, China also shares maritime borders with four countries — Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Philippines. These borders are also disputed.

What is the main reason of these disputes?
Experts believe the boundary disputes between Asian countries are a legacy of colonial rule on them. Despite having no common past or common culture, many modern countries were arbitrarily created by colonial powers. The idea of a perfectly surveyed territorial state is a modern Western concept, which was imposed on their colonies as well. During this period, China was also forced to enter into many treaties it believes were unequal and many of the present disputes are linked to that belief.

What were these treaties?

During the 19th and early 20th century, China was forced into several treaties with Great Britain, France, Germany, the US, Russia and Japan. In most of these treaties, the Chinese government provided protection, gave privileged rights to trade and ceded territories to the colonialists. It ceded Hong Kong to Britain, Macau to Portugal, a large part of its northern area to tsarist Russia, Annam (now in Vietnam) to France, Taiwan to Japan and so on. After the Russian Revolution, the Soviets terminated most of these gains but other colonial powers remained in Asia for many more decades and most border disputes can be traced back to this period.

What is the dispute between India and China?

The McMahon line, which India recognizes as its boundary, is not accepted by the Chinese. The line was drawn by Sir Henry McMahon, the foreign secretary of the British- Indian government who was acting as the chief negotiator in the Shimla conference between Britain, China and Tibet. The Chinese delegate, Ivan Chen, stated he was not authorised to discuss Tibet’s border with India. The McMahon line was negotiated between the British and Tibetans, without Chinese participation and when opposed by the Chinese it was declared as a bilateral accord between India and Tibet. The land south of Tibet was declared as British India. This made the Tawang region of Arunachal Pradesh a part of India. Historically, this area was known as south Tibet. In 1950, Tibet lost its status as an independent territory and India took control of the area. In response to China’s claim, India argues that China had no sovereignty over Tibet at the time when the McMahon line was drawn. Also historically it has had no claim to the area that is Arunchal Pradesh. It began to raise the claim after it annexed Tibet. Historically, the Ahom rajas and Deb rajas of Tawang have had a tributary system with the tribes of Arunachal. The Tawang monastery that has links with Lhasa exercised a spiritual and not a temporal influence. The tribes of Arunachal were integrated more to the south as the high passes of 14,000 and 18,000 feet restricted contact with Tibet. There was just about 60-75 km of “border” areas where regular contact was possible. So, though some accounts see Tibet “ceding” territories to India at the Shimla conference, even ancient travellers like Hieun Tsang speak of the influence of local kingdoms. Also before China’s annexation of Tibet, the latter’s relations with India were by and large peaceful.

What is China’s attitude in solving these disputes?

Although China has given territorial concessions to countries like Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, it is often criticised for claiming territories which were under any form of Chinese domination in the past. It has also renounced any treaty signed by them before the communist revolution. This attitude is a matter of debate as many experts argue about putting a cut-off date on history when countries define their modern borders. For instance, the Mauryan and Mughal empires stretched far beyond India’s current northern boundaries while the Chola kingdom was spread till Vietnam. This, obviously, wouldn’t be seen as most people as justifying India’s claim on these areas citing historical dominance.